End of school

There seems to be no definite end to school. Classes finished four weeks ago. My seminars turned in papers in the following weeks. I let a few of the students revise their research papers because there were several problems with using sources. Some of the problem is not having easy internet access to sources or a sufficient library. Some students after getting sources and listing them in a Works Cited didn’t cite them in their paper. I didn’t see any point in failing them out right on the paper, so I gave chances to revise. The final deadline for grades seems to float; I am still not sure of the final, final deadline. Exams last six weeks.

For my lecture class I gave the exam three times. This is standard practice for lecture classes because the students have to pass these classes and are given a limit number of times to take the class. The day of the first exam about fifteen students simply signed their names on the exam and left. They came to take it again the second or third time. Of course, I changed the exam each time. On the last day of the exam I had students walk in to take it whom I had never seen. One young woman told me that she lives and works in Budapest and came to take the exam because it was her last opportunity to pass it. She passed.

There is much about the system I still don’t understand. I was often perplexed. Like all systems not everything works. The Hungarian universities are trying to adjust to the new EU guidelines; so much is in a state of flux. Again like people everywhere many think the old system is preferable and that much is being lost. Most of the changes are not under their control. Both students and professors try to function and make their way through the complicated morass.